A new treat...no tricks!
A new treat...no tricks!
Fogassa Valenciana is Spain’s sweet treat for this time of year
Hola friends, it’s almost Halloween and Día de los Muertos…are you planning anything?
In Spain, October 31st is Día de las Brujas, or the Day of the Witches. We don’t usually do anything special to celebrate it…instead we wait for All Souls, called Todos Los Santos in Spanish or Tots Sants in Catalan and Valencian, on November 1st. While Halloween and Día de los Muertos are meant to be more festive, Tots Sants is more of a somber day where we might go to the cemetery to bring flowers and honor our ancestors and families, and then take our parents and grandparents for a meal or a cup of coffee.
In Valencia, one of the traditions is to make a Fogassa Valenciana, which is a type of coca (remember coca from this summer?)—it’s a special sweet bread sometimes made with pumpkin and covered with nuts and raisins. It’s a great treat…and a lot more interesting than a boring old chocolate bar! This version, from Chef Patricia Blanco, has sweet potato, and people—it’s a perfect bite of fall, whether you serve it with coffee or as dessert (or really, any time of day). In Valencia, there is a saying, Per a tots sants, fogassa. Ja ve l'hivern. which means For All Saints' Day, fogassa. Winter is coming. Isn’t that amazing? I cannot think of a better way to mark the change of seasons than making a warm fogassa.
What are your favorite traditions of the season?
Fogassa Valenciana Per Tots Sants
Serves 6-8